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xm21

July 21, 2009, 05:15 AM

That is one heck of a library you got there.Silencers,Snipers and Assassins by J David Truby is a good one on the US Army sniper program and developement of the M21 and ART scope during the Vietnam war.

xm21

July 21, 2009, 07:54 AM

My bad,that book I was thinking about was Senich's and I see you have it on your list.The one I mentioned by Truby was subtitled An Overview of Whispering Death and told the story of WerBell and SIONICS and the early Powder Springs Ingrams.Again thats quite a collection of books you got there.

jasper275

July 21, 2009, 11:11 AM

Best German WW2 Sniper book:

Sniper on the Eastern Front: The Memoirs of Sepp Allerberger

The "Grandfather's Tale" book is FICTION!

SeekHer

July 21, 2009, 05:23 PM

jasper275 -- Best German WW2 Sniper book:

Sniper on the Eastern Front: The Memoirs of Sepp Allerberger

The "Grandfather's Tale" book is FICTION!

Corrected the "Grandfather's Tale" book...I cobbled this together from different sections of my data base, not broken down by the titles shown here and missed it, thanks for spotting it! Fiction but well researched and only a few errors that a good proof reader would have caught! Good book!

I will have to order the Allerberger book as you're the third person to recommend it to me...Is it in hard cover, trade paper or paperback?

jasper275

July 21, 2009, 07:41 PM

The Sepp Allerberger book is only paperback, I believe. Excellent book, and comparing it to the fictional book, shows how difficult it was to rack up large kill numbers. Get it, you'll love it.

SeekHer

July 21, 2009, 10:25 PM

The editor is listed as Geoffry Brookes and it's in trade paper...

Amazon.com had this review by J. Harrison on it:
OK so this book was a must buy when I saw it on Amazon.ca, I was however disappointed. To start its a very very short read 146 pages which hardly seems enough for one of the German Army's top snipers memoirs, further more this book is NOT written by Josef Sepp Allergerger but Albrecht Waker who interviewed Mr.Allerberger and wrote a book that is titled "Im auge des Jägers" which is double the size of this English translated edition (why cut the book in half?)

I was told by the other two of the full size book "Im auge des Jägers" translated to English and available from a British publishing house but no matter, I've ordered it and will be here next week...I looking for the full English translated book to order as well--what's another book, right!

I also ordered a bunch of books from Casemate Publishers (http://www.casematepublishing.com/cgi/index.pl)...Hope to get them next week...

Well, to get accounts of German soldiers, some concessions have to be made considering how few survived or were willing to reveal their service. Whether it's 146 pages or based on interviews, the point is there are precious few written accounts, so enjoy!

SeekHer

July 22, 2009, 01:53 AM

Recently Added
Halbertstadt.....Hans.....Trigger Men
Afong.....Milo.....Hogs In The Shadows
Boyden.....Joseph.....Three Day Road--WW1 story based on the life of Canadian Ojibway Sniper Francis "Peggy" Pegahmagabow the most confirmed kills in the Commonwealth Armies

22/07/09
Riordan……..James……..The Sniper
Farey……..Pat……..Sniping: An Illustrated History
Zaitsev……..Vassili……..Notes of a Sniper: Vassili Zaitsev's Account of the Battle of Stalingrad
Tucker……..Mike……..Ronin: A Marine Scout / Sniper Platoon in Iraq
LaBleu……..Joe……..Long Rifle: A Sniper's Story in Iraq and Afghan…
Mills…….. Dan……..Sniper One: On Scope and Under Siege with a Sniper Team in Iraq
Pegler……..Martin……..Sniping In The Great War
McKenney……..Tom……..Jack Hinson's One-Man War, A Civil War Sniper
Coughlin……..Jack, Sgt.……..Dead Shot: A Sniper Novel - Fiction
Coughlin……..Jack, Sgt.……..Kill Zone: A Sniper Novel - Fiction
Masr…….. Gregory……..To Be a Military Sniper
Spicer……..Mark……..Illustrated Manual of Sniper Skills

Just ordered these from Amazon this evening...

Bart B.

July 22, 2009, 10:08 AM

Jasper275 comments:Well, to get accounts of German soldiers, some concessions have to be made considering how few survived or were willing to reveal their service.There was one German soldier who revealed a bit of his service....to my older brother in early 1944. As my brother related to me some years ago.....

My brother, a medical tech sergeant at a hospital in Great Britian, was attending a wounded German POW who spoke pretty good English. The POW said he was occasionaly used as a sniper with an extremely accurate M98 Mauser from the Oberndorf factory. My brother was somewhat of an afficianado on firearms and oft times talked at length with this POW who was a fairly decent person. He told my brother if he could find any M98 with "byf" code on the receiver ring, that was one of the best ones from the original Mauser plant. The POW once laughed about telling my brother that the M1903 Springfield (paying a royalty to Mauser to do it), Winchester Model 54 and later the Model 70 all derived from Paul Mauser's famous action design (this POW knew his stuff!!!). He also said it was a German soldier's dream to capture a M1903 or Model 70 sniper rifle from American forces just as it was for the US forces to get an M98 "byf" sniper rifle from the Germans.

Anyway, this German POW was also quite an artist. My now deceased brother's wife still has the pencil-drawn picture of my brother in uniform drawn by that German POW in 1944. He sporterized the "byf" coded M98 he traded some stuff for into a .244 Remington varmint rifle that now belongs his son.

4v50 Gary

August 11, 2010, 10:17 AM

The Win M54 and its descendant, the M70, both evolved from the Mauser 98 (see Stuart Otteson's book, The Bolt Action Rifle). I doubt if any M54 or M70s were converted and used as sniper rifles. Van Orden did make some, but they were never officially adopted by the USMC. Second, while the M1903 is capable of very good accuracy, the Weaver 330 based scope was very poor compared to most of its German counterparts.

SeekHer

June 23, 2011, 11:53 PM

Just Ordered:
Sniper: American Single-Shot Warriors in Iraq and Afghanistan.....Larsen.....Matt
Hunters: U.S. Snipers in the War on Terror.....Afong.....Milo S.
Sniping In The Great War.....Pegler.....Martin
Sniper Anthology: Snipers of the Second World War.....Pegler.....Martin--pre-order Nov 2011 release date
Sniper Rifles: From the 19th to the 21st Century.....Pegler.....Martin
Sniper: A History of the US Marksman.....Pegler.....Martin
Osprey Weapons: The Lee-Enfield Rifle.....Pegler.....Martin

Jack Hinson's One-Man War, A Civil War Sniper.....McKenney.....Tom
Sharpshooting in the Civil War.....Plaster.....John, Mjr.
Sharpshooters (1750-1900): The Men, Their Guns, Their Story.....Yee.....Gary
Sniper Ace: From the Eastern Front to Siberia.....Sutkus.....Bruno
Red Sniper on the Eastern Front: The Memoirs of Joseph Pilyushin.....Pilyushin.....Joseph

Clean Kill.....Coughlin.....Jack, Sgt......Fiction--His first two books was very well done, so why not

Travis McGee

June 24, 2011, 09:54 AM

You might want to include Castigo Cay on your fiction list.
I was a Navy SEAL in my youth (BUD/S class 105, 1979), but I promised myself long ago I would not write any fiction about SEALs. Too cheesy. But the protagonist of Castigo Cay is a thirty-something former Marine scout/sniper. The novel is set a few years in the future, when the American economy is a wreck and the country is becoming a police state. Dan Kilmer lives outside of the USA, chasing that elusive wisp of freedom in an increasingly unfree world, but he's forced to sneak back into South Florida under the radar to pull off a rescue mission.

http://www.enemiesforeignanddomestic.com/DanKilmerSmall.JPG

Castigo Cay is my fourth novel.

Deltaboy

June 24, 2011, 11:27 AM

I got several USMC Sniper Manuels that I printed since they were PDF files. Plus I still have my 1980's US Army Marksmanship Manuel and a Combat Sniper Manuel I got when I was in ROTC.
I learned to read the wind better, breathing and tigger control which has allowed me to kill squirrels at 120 yards with a Remmy 512 bolt in 22 LR.

They are all great reading my person favorite is Hankcocks Marine Sniper book.

parachutist

July 2, 2011, 02:23 PM

I've just read on another Forum topic that "not since a century ago when in 1899 Major W.S.Dunlop penned:'Lee's sharpshooters or the Forefront of Battle has a book been written on the Confederate sharpshooter batallions' "...
Well,back in 1989 J.A. Morrow wrote a book specific to Confederate sharpshooters who were armed with the Whitworth rifle.
Google his name and Whitworth Sharpshooter for the website.
The book was also reprinted as it was initially soon sold out.He has a few copies left.

SeekHer

July 2, 2011, 02:55 PM

Thanks for the info and welcome to the forum:

You know you could have put the title and his name down and even a link to him.--those are all perfectly OK...Not spamming or anything even if you are the author.

Hello Seek Her,
Am new to this forum so don't really know what is/is'nt allowed so wrote about it in the 3rd.person.
Yes;I'm the author of this book(The Confederate Whitworth Sharpshooters).
Thanks for putting in the web address.
"Parachutist"

Deltaboy

July 2, 2011, 11:32 PM

Hinsons one man war is written by a former marine who followed one mans personal war with the union after the murder of his 2 teen aged sons by Union troops.

http://www.amazon.com/Jack-Hinsons-One-Man-Civil-Sniper/dp/1589806409

This book shows there are some men you just should not cross or mess with .. Jack Hinson is one of them.

SeekHer

July 3, 2011, 05:17 AM

You're quite welcome! Are there any excerpts available to read? Sorry, I should have put the price down as well, price:
$29 for Domestic Orders: includes postage and handling
$35 for International Orders -- Does that also include Canada, as it's cheaper to ship here then from COTUS to Hawaii or Alaska?

You should read Gary Yee's self published book--also a member here by the name of 4v50 gary
Sharpshooters (1750-1900): The Men, Their Guns, Their Story
Available here:
http://www.sharpshooterpress.com/
$45.00 plus shipping
$5.00 for COTUS
$27.00 for International and Canada {I protest this outrage}

Include, Shock Troops of the South by Fred Ray
Good review at Civil War Talk by Gary Yee (http://civilwartalk.com/forums/showthread.php?24295-Fred-L.-Ray-s-Shock-Troops-of-the-South)

Some good reviews in The Bivouac Banner. (http://www.bivouacbooks.com/news.htm).-- click the highlighted name for a direct link to page

If you want to make the link like the above one...copy the URL from the top of the page you want to insert (hi-lite and ctrl & "C" or right mouse)...Type the site's name in the box, hi lite it, click the blue globe button on the spacebar above, (ctrl & "V" or right mouse), insert in space provided on the pop up that appears, click OK and you'll have an underlined link in a different colour from the text available for all to click--hopefully!

Smokey in PHX

July 4, 2011, 01:05 PM

Very nice collection of books. Thanks for listing them.

parachutist

July 4, 2011, 02:21 PM

Thanks for the book plug again SeekHer.
I have a copy of the Ray book concerning the Confederate sharpshooter batallions(he quotes and footnotes me in it)and since my little book was first printed back in 1989 it has been cited in several "sniper" books since.
As to some book entries;Mr.Yee's already quoted a number of the Confederate sniper accounts I initially wrote about.
I have'nt seen his new book so can't comment about his cited sources.
My book is very specific and concerns the relative handful of incredibly good marksmen selected on the basis of courageous previous conduct in battle,trained,and then unleashed on the enemy.These men carried the finest rifle in the world(the .45 cal.Whitworth)and proved to be the most effective infantrymen in the Confederacy.
Research never ends...
Recently I was contacted by an elderly gentleman in Maryland who told a very interesting boy hood account where he saw a torn copy of Hardee's Tactics owned by a farm family outside Petersburg,Va.
In the margin of the book was written in pencil:"in the line 30 days and killed 27 Yanks"...
The farm family still had the Whitworth rifle left with the family by two Whitworth men who asked them to keep the rifle until they returned.(Gen.Lee's Army was then evacuating Petersburg,which ended a week later at Appomattox).The two Confederate soldiers never came back...
The rifle was buried in a hog pen as the family knew the Yankees would plunder the house(which they did)but the Whitworth rifle was'nt found and the family much later recovered it.
If I ever reprint my book the entire account will be cited verbatim as I think it's one of the earliest "sniper kill" recording-accounts in that century.
Thanks again.

SeekHer

July 4, 2011, 06:44 PM

Thanks for the book plug again SeekHer.
I have a copy of the Ray book concerning the Confederate sharpshooter batallions(he quotes and footnotes me in it)and since my little book was first printed back in 1989 it has been cited in several "sniper" books since.
As to some book entries;Mr.Yee's already quoted a number of the Confederate sniper accounts I initially wrote about.
I have'nt seen his new book so can't comment about his cited sources.
My book is very specific and concerns the relative handful of incredibly good marksmen selected on the basis of courageous previous conduct in battle,trained,and then unleashed on the enemy.These men carried the finest rifle in the world(the .45 cal.Whitworth)and proved to be the most effective infantrymen in the Confederacy.
Research never ends...
Recently I was contacted by an elderly gentleman in Maryland who told a very interesting boy hood account where he saw a torn copy of Hardee's Tactics owned by a farm family outside Petersburg,Va.
In the margin of the book was written in pencil:"in the line 30 days and killed 27 Yanks"...
The farm family still had the Whitworth rifle left with the family by two Whitworth men who asked them to keep the rifle until they returned.(Gen.Lee's Army was then evacuating Petersburg,which ended a week later at Appomattox).The two Confederate soldiers never came back...
The rifle was buried in a hog pen as the family knew the Yankees would plunder the house(which they did)but the Whitworth rifle was'nt found and the family much later recovered it.
If I ever reprint my book the entire account will be cited verbatim as I think it's one of the earliest "sniper kill" recording-accounts in that century.
Thanks again.
I shoot a Whitworth--Parker Hale reproduction--Creedmoor style at BP events...Also have their 2 band (Musketoon) and 3 band (Infantry) and Volunteer rifles...I also shoot an underhammer .451 "Chunk" gun with Leatherwood 4x brass tube scope when doing a sharpshooter portrayal at CW events and of course for BP BR meets.

Napoleonic Wars I use a Baker rifle for either 95th Rifles or 60th Loyal Americans (they fled to Canada) portrayals and for Rev War a Ferguson rifle or as a light company skirmisher with one of a number of Brown Bess rifles...The originals are all on loan to a couple of local museums and the reproductions I use in the field...The Kit Ravenshear Bessies were more expensive then the originals.

UKarmourer

July 4, 2011, 06:50 PM

Thats a long list!
Glad to see Dan Mills, Sniper one on there, my previous posting was 1 PWRR, Dan Mills was my Coy Sgt Major, excellent bloke- although it seemed odd to meet & work with guys from the book!

4v50 Gary

July 4, 2011, 07:48 PM

Hi Parachutist,

I enjoyed your book on the Confederate Whitworth Sharpshooter. It took a long time for me to get a copy and I was always one or two months behind in tracking down one. It would always be sold before I learned of it. I finally got the reprinted edition from you and cited it in my book, Sharpshooters (1750-1900).

When I penned the words, "not since a century ago when in 1899 Major W.S.Dunlop penned:'Lee's sharpshooters or the Forefront of Battle has a book been written on the Confederate sharpshooter batallions'" that was in reference to the battalions themselves and should be distinguished from the Confederate sharpshooter himself. Yours was a seminal work in terms of both addressing the individual marksman in battle as well as the Whitworth rifle. Thank you for your diligent research and your book belongs on the shelves of all shooters and those interested in long range shooting.

BTW, I found one Whitworth in the 45th Infantry Division Museum. It was carried by Charles T. Ingram of the Third Missouri's Charles T. Ingram and kept (stolen) by him after his unit surrendered at Mobile. Ingram elected not to surrender and so he struck out (technically deserted) for Gen. Edmund Kirby Smith's Confederacy in Texas. After crossing the Mississippi by canoe, Ingram learned that Smith also surrendered and decided to return home to Bonham, Texas. He kept the gun and it (with a replacement scope) was later donated by the family to the museum. You can contact the museum for more information (it's included in the book).

Gary

UKarmourer - are armourers in the British Army still the functional equivalent of a full fledged gunsmith? I know the ones of the old army (40-50's) were trained to used a lathe, milling machine, welding and the correct fitting of parts.

parachutist

July 5, 2011, 04:39 PM

Hello SeekHer and Gary,
SeekHer;Since you are in the U.K. I've often wondered if locating a Whitworth rifle in Britain is remotely a possibility?
They are so decidely uncommon to be found over here...
A few years ago I was in Limerick,Ireland and was amazed to see the old Peter Tait buildings still intact downtown on the banks of the Shannon.
Tait,of course,sent many hundreds of uniforms to the Confederacy in the war's last days-and I began to speculate what was in the massive building undiscovered.I was told that the buildings nowadays serve as a storage shed for Ireland Electric.
Do Whitworths ever show up for sale in Britain?
Just a thought...
I also shoot a Parker Hale Whitworth.Great rifle.
Interesting that you are interested in the Royal Americans(60th.)
So am I.
I have a number of Revolutionary War coat buttons,six from the 60th(found in Georgia and South Carolina).Revolutionary War coat buttons are another personal interest of mine...
Gary;I'm looking forward to reading your new book.
I've seen and heard some great things about it.
Wish we had met sooner as I personally was friends with two W.W.II German snipers(both Ritterkreuz winners).
Both now deceased but very interesting old soldiers..
Am really looking forward to your future posts.
All the best,
Parachutist

parachutist

July 5, 2011, 06:03 PM

Oops!
Just realized that I asked the wrong question to SeekHer-about maybe locating Whitworths in Britain;should have been asked of UKarmourer...
Well,the question still stands...
With so many Whitworths turned out,and so relative few sent to America-they have to be somewhere???
Any thoughts anyone?
Parachutist

xsquidgator

July 5, 2011, 06:30 PM

Fry The Brain: The Art of Urban Sniping and its Role in Modern Guerrilla Warfare
by John West.

Great, interesting book. History of urban sniping Stalingrad-present, with chapters on Stalingrad, Vietnam, Charles Whitman, the DC Beltway snipers, Chechnya, Iraq, Northern Ireland, Yugoslavian civil war, ... and also a number of chapters on equipment and tactics. I don't have any personal experience with any of this, but it was still a fascinating read.

4v50 Gary

July 5, 2011, 08:37 PM

Parachutist - David Minshall knows a couple of Brits who are researching the exportation of Whitworths to the Confederacy. Hopefully they're close to finishing their research. We really don't know how many reached the Rebels. Second, since you've expressed interest in the Royal American Regiment, or the 60th King's Royal Rifle Corps, there is a new scholarly book by Alexander V. Campbell, The Royal American Regiment: An Atlantic Microcosm, 1755-1772. Campbell offers a sorely needed update from Lewis Butler's volume (Annals of the King's Royal Rifle Corps: Vol 1, The Royal Americans) on the regimental history as well as insights into the role the Royal Americans in American society. Campbell's work is superior over Kenneth Stuart's, Defenders of the Frontier: Colonel Henry Bouquet and the Officers and Men of the Royal American Regiment, 1763-64. Whereas Stuart's work was a re-hash of Butler, Campbell incorporates a lot of original research in his volume.

As to the British issued Whitworths, I know many were issued on an experimental basis to their Army, but it's in the hundreds and does not approach a thousand. Most Whitworths were purchased by target shooters or volunteer riflemen (there was a huge volunteer movement in Britain with organizations like The Artists Rifles, The Civil Service Rifles, London Rifle Brigade, etc.).

UKarmourer

July 6, 2011, 07:49 PM

Now I wouldnt like to comment on those whitworths (although I may know a man who would)
As to my trade, we are not Gunsmiths as such, we do learn to weld, and can be trained on lathe work.
The basic armourers course is 9 months long, 3 months in the classroom studying materials science, engineering maths, some physics, tech drawing, then its into the woekshop for a month of handskills training (so many of our younger generation never did 'shop' at school, computers. Yes, hammers & files no!)
After that its into basic principles of firearms, the cycle of operations etc, bit on ballistics, then its onto the weapons phase, pistols (semi-auto only, BHP &226) rifles (SA80 family, L96 sniper & the new .338) MG's (FN GPMG & Minimi), mortars, chain gun, 30mm RARDEN cannon ( and the turret systems, inc sights)
All of these phases include complete component strips, rebuilds, fault finding, inspection standards and the 'action of mechanism' for each weapon.

On the 'class one course' taken around 4 years later its 6months long, and is almost the same course, but more in depth inspection and higher standards.
Also added into the mix then are the 105mm light gun and examination of ordnance (inspecting the big stuff)